4.1 Fair and effective taxation
4.2 Labour-market and the work approach in welfare
policy - More flexible work approach in welfare policy
4.3 More goal-oriented social and health services
4.4 More social housing policy
4.5 A more finely-meshed safety net
4.6 A simpler, more user-oriented and better
coordinated assistance scheme
This page was last updated November 18, 1999 by the
editors

1. Background and objects

A new distributional offensive

With the publication of the White paper, the
Bondevik Government wishes to reintroduce social distribution as a
key political objective. During the ten-year period prior to the
last change of government, most people have become more prosperous.
The richest individuals have seen the greatest increase in
prosperity, while the poorest have been left trailing behind and
the gap between these groups has widened. The Government wishes to
reverse this trend, by safeguarding values pertaining to
solidarity, by providing better services and benefits to those who
are most economically disadvantaged, and by means of a fairer
system of taxation.

In the Voksenkollen Declaration, which was agreed when the
present government was formed, the centrist parties set themselves
the goal of writing a White paper: "The differences in economic living standards between the
rich and poor have widened in the 1990sÉ A centrist government will
take these increased disparities seriously and will present a White
paper in order to investigate the full extent of this problem.
Proposals will be submitted regarding necessary measures aimed at
countering the trend towards a society with increased
inequality."

This White paper mainly covers developments
during the period 1986-1997, and has a broad-based approach with a
focus on ensuring that everyone has a reasonable share of the
material resources in society, and that these resources are
distributed more justly than is currently the case. It is necessary
to create sound and secure employment opportunities, good housing
conditions and high-quality dwellings, a right to a satisfactory
education, essential health and social services, and a social
safety net for all. This report represents an important part of the
Government’s distributional policy.

2. Values and objectives

One main objective of the Government’s welfare policy is to
provide security for society’s most disadvantaged groups. By means
of the White paper, the Government wishes to gear our social
security and welfare systems more to those who are most
economically disadvantaged.

The Government is committed to a welfare state
that provides:
• Security for all
• Improved distribution of incomes and living standards
• Equal rights and obligations for all
• An equal range of high-quality services
• Better opportunities for work for the most economically
disadvantaged
• A more finely-meshed social safety net

The Government will maintain a strong public
responsibility for the welfare system, but will also pursue
policies that support the family and voluntary organisations.

3. The distribution of income and living standards

Most people are better off… • The vast majority of the population enjoys good economic
living standards, and the majority of people have seen their living
standards improve in most areas in the 1980s and 1990s. Levels of
income and wealth have risen, and there are clear improvements in
the material standard of living.
• The population’s level of education has increased
significantly, there has been a strong growth in employment levels,
unemployment has fallen to a low level, and the population’s
general state of health has improved. Most people have good
housing.
• The share of the population whose overall living standards
are considered good or very good has increased.

But… • Differences in income in Norway have increased during the
period 1986-1997. Income inequality appears to have increased more
in Norway than in most other OECD-countries, but the data for
comparison is somewhat uncertain. The number of people with a low
income
1 has remained stable or increased
slightly.
• Developments have tended towards a marginalization of some
groups of the population, where poor financial resources to a
greater or lesser degree coincide with low levels of education,
weak links with the labour market, poor health and relatively poor
housing conditions.
• Some people have a more permanently low income
1 and poor living standards in several
of the most important areas.
• The distribution of wealth, inheritance and household
income is even more unequal than the distribution of income and
this inequality has increased.

1)Low-income households are those with an income (per
consumer unit) of less than half that of the household with an
equal number of households with a higher income than itself, and an
equal number of households with a lower income than itself (median
income). Which households are deemed as having a low income will
also depend on the choice of equivalence scale (conversion of
household income to income per person in the household).

3.1 Income

The population’s average income (after tax) rose
in real terms by 13 per cent between 1986 and 1997. The income of
the ten per cent of the population with the highest income rose by
34 per cent, while the income of the ten per cent of the population
with the lowest income increased by 5–6 per cent (excluding
students). The share of people with a low income1 has increased
from 3.1 to 4.7 per cent during the same period.

Couples with young children (0–6 years), couples
over 45 years of age without children and single individuals over
the age of 65 have recorded the strongest increase in income (20–25
per cent), while single individuals under the age of 45 and
families with older children have had the lowest increase (just
over 9 per cent). Other types of households, including
single-parent households, have seen a real increase in income of
between 10 and 14 per cent.

Wage earnings are by far the most important
source of income for the vast majority of households, and wage
developments play an important role in determining how economic
conditions vary between different populations groups. Wage earnings
as part of total income are lowest for those with lowest incomes
and greatest for those with more average incomes. Average wage
differentials in the population have been reduced in the 1980s and
1990s, among other things as a result of the fact that wage
differentials between men and women on average have been
reduced.

Why is there increasing inequality? • Between 1986 and 1997, the increase in income has, in
relative terms, been greatest for those with the highest incomes,
cf. figure 1. The most important reason for the greater increase in
high incomes is that capital incomes have increased relatively more
than other incomes and that capital incomes have been more unevenly
distributed in the 1990s. This is due in particular to a sharp
increase in dividend payments and gains from the sale of shares
etc.
• Participation in the labour force has fallen among certain
groups, and the number of people receiving benefits has increased
significantly during the same period. More people have become
dependent on public transfers as their main source of income.
People in employment generally have a higher income and better
overall living standards than those who are not in employment. A
lack of affiliation with the labour market is therefore the most
important reason for low income.
• There have been changes to family structure and income,
which is especially evident in the sharp increase in the number of
single-person households and single parents.

Further details about individuals with a high
income The highest income group primarily comprises people in
households with no children, where two adults are in employment.
People with very high incomes and a sharp rise in income receive
far more of their income from capital income than others. People
with a high income have also recorded the strongest increase in
wealth, inheritance and income from dwellings.

Who has a low income? There is a clear overrepresentation of single individuals
under 45 years and single parents among those with a low household
income. In relative terms, more women than men have a low income.
Since 1986, the number of men with a low income has risen, while
the number of women has remained stable throughout the period.

There has been a change in the composition of
the low-income group during the period. Among other things, the
average age of those people with a low income has changed, from an
overrepresentation of elderly people in 1986 to a large share of
relatively young people in 1997.

There is an overrepresentation of non-western
immigrants and people receiving various public benefits among those
with low incomes. This is true of people who receive social welfare
benefits, single parents receiving transitional benefits,
unemployed persons, people with long-term illnesses receiving
rehabilitation benefits and certain groups receiving invalidity
benefits. Handicapped people and old-age pensioners are to a lesser
degree represented among those people with low incomes, but many of
them have incomes that are marginally above the low-income
limit.

Some people have a permanently low income Around 50-100,000 people, or approximately 1-2 per cent of
the Norwegian population, are poor in the sense that they have a
relatively low income over a long period of time:

Around 2 per cent of the population – approx.
90,000 people – have a cumulative 5-year income (after tax) that is
lower than half of the median income of the population. In
particular, there is an overrepresentation of single persons below
45 years and, to a somewhat lesser degree, couples with small
children among those people with a low income in the five-year
distribution (according to the equivalency scale used here).

Around 1.5 per cent of the population – approx.
60,000 persons – have a cumulative 10-year income (after tax) that
is lower than half of the median income of the population. Among
people with a low ten-year income, we find an overrepresentation of
single individuals below 45 years and parents of small children,
including single parents (acording to the equivalency scale used
here). In addition, recipients of social welfare and immigrants
from non-western countries in particular comprise major groups
among those with a permanently low income.

The most important cause of low income is primarily a weak
affiliation with the labour market, often owing to a low level of
education or a lack of approved occupational skills, poor health or
social problems.

Social welfare benefits Long-term receiving of social welfare benefits is another
indicator of a permanent income problem. Among long-term recipients
of social welfare benefits, we also find an overrepresentation of
single men, immigrants (particularly refugees), single parents
receiving transitional benefits and certain other groups that have
to supplement national insurance benefits with social welfare
benefits. Around 0.75 per cent of the population – approx. 35,000
persons – have received social welfare benefits in at least three
out of the last seven years. The number of people who receive
social welfare benefits over a long period of time has risen, as
has the average period of support.

Figure 2Expenditure on social care (1997-Nkr (millions)) and the number
of benefit recipients

Services Access to publicly financed services (e.g. health and social
services) may to some extent ÇcompensateÈ for a low income, and
public services have been developed significantly in the 1980s and
1990s. Nursing and care services represent one example of services
that have a strong redistributional effect. Public subsidization
decreases the higher the level of income, and there is a
predominance of low-income groups in receipt of such services.
Another example of services with a strong redistributional effect
is kindergarten services, which makes it easier for women to remain
in employment, have their own income, and thus affect the
distribution of income between the sexes.

3.2 Education and employment

One of the most noticeable features of societal
development in the last 10-15 years is the increase in the general
level of education. One main trend in the educational pattern
during this period is the sharp rise in the number of women in
higher education. More women than men are currently pursuing a
higher education, but women often finished their studies at a lower
level than men do. The sharp increase in education levels in the
1980s and 1990s has led to a greater disparity between the
different generations’ level of education, since the older age
groups generally have a lower level of formal education than the
younger age groups. Certain other groups have a low level of
education in relation to the rest of the population. This is true
of, among others, non-western immigrants, single parents and some
people with social and health problems. Social background continues
to be an important factor in determining an individual’s choice of
education and completion of studies.

Education increases an individual’s chances of achieving good
living standards in other areas. People with a high level of
education participate significantly more in the labour force and
enjoy a higher income than people with a limited level of formal
education.

In recent years, there has also been a marked
increase in the size of the labour force. Between 1993 and 1998,
the number of people in employment rose by around 225,000. Eight
out of ten persons of working age (25-66 years) are now in
employment (1998). Key features of this development over the last
10-20 years are an increase in the number of people in employment
and increased working hours among women, particularly among women
with small children. Nevertheless, there are still clear
inequalities between men and women, especially in terms of working
hours. There are also inequalities between men and women when it
comes to choice of career, and the choices made today deviate very
little from the traditional pattern.

Figure 3:Employment and unemployment
Source: Statistics Norway.

In parallel with the sharp increase in the
number of people in employment in the 1990s, the number of people
out of work has fallen, after unemployment levels increased towards
the end of the 1980s and peaked in 1993. The number of long-term
unemployed people has fallen considerably in recent years. Among
young people, however, participation in the labour force is lower
and unemployment levels higher compared with the average levels for
the working population. The same also applies to handicapped
people, refugees and immigrants from non-western countries. There
has also been an increase in the number of people experiencing
problems in the labour market for health and/or social reasons. The
number of people receiving invalidity pensions has increased more
sharply than the rise in the average age of the population would
tend to indicate. The average age of people who retire from the
labour force owing to invalidity has fallen. In addition, there
have been increases in sickness absenteeism and in the number of
people in rehabilitation. The number of people who take early
retirement has also increased in the 1990s. Although this has
something to do with improved opportunities for taking early
retirement, it may also be a sign that the requirements of
occupational life have been too stringent for some older
employees.

The differences in employment patterns among people with low
and high levels of education appear to have increased in the 1980s
and 1990s. People with a low level of education are more exposed to
occupational upheaval during periods of recession, and to changes
in occupational patterns. There are many indications that more
people with a low level of formal education are falling outside of
occupational life and receiving benefits at an earlier stage of
life than was commonplace earlier.

3.3 Health

In a long-term perspective, the population’s
general state of health has improved. The life expectancy of both
men and women has increased continuously since the Second World
War. Other measurements of the population’s state of health such as
self-experienced health, level of functioning and the individual’s
assessment of his/her state of health, however, remained relatively
unchanged between 1985 and 1995.

Muscular and skeletal diseases and mental
illness are the two dominant ailments suffered by the
population.

There are clear differences regarding health and
gender. While women generally live longer than men do, women also
report more frequently that they have health problems, and more
women than men report long-lasting illnesses that reduce their
quality of life. Women, particularly women among the younger age
groups, receive invalidity pensions more often than men, they have
a higher level of sickness absenteeism, consume more medication and
use health services more frequently than men.

Studies indicate that in certain areas social inequality with
regard to state of health may have increased in the 1980s and
1990s. The gap appears to have been reduced among the working
population, while the disparity between the economically active and
economically inactive sections of the population has
increased.

The state of health of people who are
economically inactive and receive public subsistence benefits (the
long-term unemployed, recipients of social welfare benefits etc.),
and particularly recipients of social security benefits for reasons
of illness, is reportedly worse than the state of health of people
who are economically active. The state of health of the working
population has improved, while the state of health for people who
are economically inactive shows no improvement or has deteriorated.
The causes of this are complicated, but possible explanations may
be different behaviour with regard to health and the more stringent
requirements of occupational life, which means a higher threshold
for participation in the labour force.

3.4 Housing

Developments within the housing sector in the
1980s and 1990s have resulted in good living conditions for most
people. In particular, the standard of housing has improved. Most
people also live in a safer local environment.

Some people have far poorer housing conditions than others in
one or more areas, often owing to high living expenses and low
incomes.

Single individuals and some single parents have
poorer housing conditions than couples with and without children.
Single parent households have by far the highest living expenses in
relation to their income, primarily because they have relatively
low incomes. Families with small children generally have the
highest mortgages, and these families have seen the greatest
increase in mortgage levels in the 1990s.

Recipients of social welfare benefits and the
long-term unemployed are distinguished by their relatively poor
housing conditions, and the housing situation for non-western
immigrants is generally poorer than for the rest of the population.
For immigrants, housing problems may be due to discrimination in
the housing market and/or the fact that they reside in specific
urban areas where the housing stock is of a low standard. The
housing standard for young, single individuals receiving invalidity
pensions who do not reside with a family is poorer than for people
within the same age group who are not disabled. The problems
experienced by handicapped people in relation to housing are
primarily related to the lack of accessibility to and proper
adaptation of dwellings. Around 6,200 persons were registered as
homeless in 1997.

3.5 Regional distribution – economic living standards in
urban areas

Levels of income within the population are
clearly lower in rural areas than they are in towns and urban
areas, while the housing situation is often better in rural areas.
There are minor inequalities between rural areas and towns/urban
areas as regards employment and unemployment. It would appear that
there has been an equalization of overall living standards between
urban and rural areas, even though income differentials have
increased somewhat in favour of the urban areas.

It is in the larger towns, particularly in Oslo, that one finds
people with the worst and best living standards. Norway’s housing
problems are also concentrated here.

The greatest geographical differences in incomes
and living standards are found within the larger cities,
particularly between inner east Oslo and inner west Oslo. Inner
east Oslo has a high percentage of inhabitants with low incomes,
unemployed people, many recipients of social welfare benefits,
recipients of invalidity pensions, single parents receiving
transitional benefits, children in care and a concentration of
immigrants. Inequalities in the distribution of income have
increased more sharply within the larger cities (particularly in
Oslo) than they have nationwide.

3.6 Accumulation of living standards

Good and poor living standards have a tendency
to accumulate among sections of the population. The share of those
people whose overall living standards are good has increased a
little in the 1980s and 1990s. The share of the population whose
overall living standards are poor has remained constant or risen
slightly in certain groups during this period.

People whose overall living standards are poor
have complex problems. They have low incomes and are often
marginalized in relation to the labour market. They also have a low
level of education, relatively poor housing and are often
disadvantaged in other areas, too. One typical feature of the
living standards scenario in the 1990s is that poor living
conditions and marginalization do not encompass entire social
groups, but apply to a small and variable minority within different
groups.

4. Goals and strategies

A society without major economic and social
inequality is an asset in itself, and may help to prevent social
conflict. The Government is concerned about the increase in
inequality and the fact that a minority of the population has poor
living standards and is trailing behind the rest of the population
as far as developments in welfare are concerned. The Government
wishes to implement measures that will help the most disadvantaged
members of society, through the redistribution of income from
people with the highest incomes.

With the publication of the White paper, the Government wishes
to announce strategies and initiatives aimed at reducing
inequalities in economic resources and living standards, with a
particular focus on improving conditions for those people who are
most disadvantaged.

By means of measures announced in this White
paper, the Government wishes to address the causes of these
problems. The Government will therefore assign priority to measures
that can lead to improved affiliation with the labour market, and
services that can support the medium-term objective of making
individuals as self-sufficient as possible. The Government also
aims to secure good housing conditions for all since this is an
important condition for ensuring good living standards and quality
of life. For a number of people, participation in the labour force
and improved services will represent an unrealistic solution to
their problems. The Government therefore wishes to produce a more
finely-meshed social safety net, with a view to providing these
people with a more secure income.

The greatest challenge facing income
distribution policy is that of reversing a trend that leads to the
permanent marginalization of certain social groups. These groups
are the principal target for the Government’s strategies and income
distribution policy measures.

Target groups for the reform measures One common feature of the target groups is that the problems
they face with regard to living standards are more or less
permanent, and often relate to several aspects of living standards
at the same time. Many people in these groups have a permanent low
income and financial problems. A low income means that they
experience problems in the housing market. These groups have little
or no affiliation with the labour market and many people suffer
from health or social problems as well. The groups are not mutually
exclusive; rather they overlap one another to a greater or lesser
degree.

Strategies and measures in income distribution
policy The Government’s principal strategy for reducing
inequalities in incomes and living standards, and for improving
conditions for those people who are most economically
disadvantaged, is primarily to continue to develop welfare
through

The Government is also committed to a simpler,
more user-oriented and better coordinated system of social
welfare.

A stable and healthy economy is a necessary
condition in order to ensure that these strategies are successful.
The country’s economic policy must support stable economic
development, the objective of employment for all, and sound and
stable framework conditions for individuals and companies. The
Government will attach particular importance to securing a basis
for permanent full employment and a low level of employment.

4.1 Fair and effective taxation

The Government attaches importance to the
principle of taxation according to one’s ability. The analyses
contained in the White paper demonstrate that this principle is not
always fully applicable today. The Government will consider making
changes to the tax system, among other things in the light of these
analyses and Norwegian Official Report (NOU) 1999:7 «On Flat-rate
Taxation». The Government wishes to attach considerable importance
to the redistributional effects of the tax rules.

The Government will work to produce tax rules that will improve
the distribution of income between those with high incomes and
those with low incomes.

4.2 Labour-market and the work approach in welfare policy –
more flexibility

The Government’s objective is for as many people as possible to
take an active part in the labour force, to pursue an education and
to receive training so that they are able to care for themselves
through their own work. Everyone shall enjoy equal rights to an
adequate education regardless of their social background, place of
residence, gender and financial ability. A policy that promotes
education, a high level of employment and good and secure jobs for
all is a fundamental strategy for equalization and good living
standards.

In cooperation with the employers’ and
employees’ organisations, the Government wishes to continue and to
strengthen the recent positive trend in respect of employment. In
order to achieve this, it is important that the size and content of
the labour-market programmes are such that they correspond with the
needs of those who still face problems in the labour market. The
level of measures must always be considered in the light of
labour-market developments.

In respect of unemployed people with complex
problems, a coordinated effort from several authorities is
required. Among those groups that find it difficult to gain access
to the labour market are certain groups of young people and the
long-term unemployed. This is also true of non-western
immigrants/refugees, owing among other things to inadequate
Norwegian language skills, or because of occupational
discrimination. The Government therefore wishes to continue its
prioritization of and efforts in respect of these groups so that
more people may find employment.

The basis of the work approach in welfare policy
is that work shall be the natural first choice of all people of
working age. In the opinion of the Government, the work approach is
primarily a correct choice since it signalises that the right to
work shall also apply to groups who, for various reasons, may
experience problems in the labour market. A high level of
participation in the labour force is also necessary in order to
finance the increase in future expenditure on pensions and to
provide essential, good-quality health and care services without
imposing too high a tax burden.

It would appear, however, that many people of
working age today are unable to give full service or participate in
the labour force on a full-time basis, owing to poor health or
social problems. Some of these people are sufficiently fit for work
that they are not entitled to an invalidity pension. Many people
nevertheless end up on invalidity pension, often after a long
period spent drifting between various short-term transfer schemes.
The analyses presented in the White paper also show that the number
of handicapped people in employment has fallen in the 1990s.

The Government wants the labour market to provide greater room
for people with permanent health problems or various types and
degrees of occupational handicaps. The Government will pave the way
for a more flexible and permanent arrangement that will allow more
people to be in employment.

The Government would like to see more flexible
welfare-to-work schemes, and will therefore implement a number of
goal-oriented measures in respect of groups that today have
difficulty in gaining a permanent foothold in the labour
market:

•
Permanent wage supplements for people with a reduced and
variable capacity for work The Government wishes to introduce a five-year wage subsidy
trial with a view to permanent integration into ordinary working
life. The target group for this measure is occupationally
handicapped job seekers with a reduced and variable capacity for
work owing to chronic muscular and skeletal ailments and
psychiatric illness, with limited prospects of permanent
improvement.

• Lower degree of occupational disability as a condition for
receiving invalidity pensions The Government wishes to initiate a three-year trial for
granting invalidity pensions with a degree of occupational
disability as low 30 per cent disability. Initially, this trial
will apply for a limited period of three years and include a few
counties. The objective is to give a greater number of people the
opportunity to use more of their capacity for work while at the
same time allowing them to enjoy financial security in relation to
their reduced capacity for work.

With a background in, among other things, the
sharp rise in the number of new occupationally handicapped people
in recent years, the Government does not wish to see a general
liberalisation of the medical conditions in the invalidity pension
scheme.

• Network project for the reactivation of recipients of
invalidity pensions The objective is that people who are occupationally
handicapped shall support and motivate one another to be
self-sufficient through their own work. The Government wishes to
implement trials involving such networking projects/self-help
groups in three–four counties.

• Municipal responsibility for occupational programmes for
long-term recipients of social welfare benefits The Government wishes to implement trials in which selected
municipalities will be given overall responsibility for securing
all forms of active help to recipients of social welfare benefits.
The purpose of this trial is to provide a closer link between
income security and motivational schemes in order to assist more
people into employment. Selected municipalities will be given
responsibility for securing all forms for active assistance to
recipients of social welfare benefits who require help in finding
employment. It is a requirement that the terms and conditions for
distributing social welfare benefits may be used actively in this
trial.

• Introductory benefits for immigrants In order to improve immigrants’ ties with the labour market,
it is necessary to strengthen the link between public benefits and
participation in qualifying programmes for the labour force. The
Government therefore wishes to introduce a special form of benefit
that will be paid out to this group by the municipalities as
financial compensation for participation in an agreed qualifying
programme. The Government will appoint a committee to draft a bill
regarding the provision of benefits to immigrants who have recently
arrived in Norway.

• Public committee to investigate sickness absenteeism and
access to disability pensions In order to slow down access to illness-related benefits,
and preferably reverse this trend, the Government has appointed a
broad-based public committee to investigate, among other things,
the causes of the increase in sickness absenteeism and access to
disability pensions. The committee will present its recommendations
by June 2000.

In the Rehabilitation White paper (White paper
no. 21 (1998-99)), importance is attached to the municipality’s
responsibility for rehabilitation of the health of the individual.
In the Plan of Action for Handicapped People (White paper no. 8
(1998-99)), the Government has paved the way for the introduction
of specific measures enabling more handicapped people to enter the
labour force.

In the opinion of the Government, it is also
important to focus on educational measures, so that more people may
qualify for employment. The Government proposes:

• Improved opportunities for vocational education for single
parents The Government wishes to relax the education requirement for
entitlement to educational benefits in the National Insurance
scheme, to give more single parents the opportunity to secure for
themselves adequate vocational skills beyond upper secondary
school.

• Improved upper secondary training for handicapped youths The Government wishes to pave the way for a smoother
transition for handicapped youth to participation in the workforce
and to paid employment after upper secondary education. This was
also discussed in White paper no. 32 (1998-99). The Government will
therefore make sure that an overall plan is drawn up for
handicapped youths who require assistance from several authorities,
with a view to giving them coordinated, planned funding for
training/rehabilitation.

• Follow-up of the Skill Reform The long-term unemployed and people who have difficulty in
achieving permanent ties with the labour market often have a low
level of education, and often end up permanently isolated from the
workforce long before they have reached ordinary pensionable age.
The Government wishes to follow up the Skill Reform (White paper
no. 42 (1997-98)), focusing in particular on adult people with a
low level of education. The Government wishes to submit a bill
concerning the right to free basic education and the duty of the
county municipality to provide an upper secondary education to all
adults who require one.

4.3 More goal-oriented social and health services

The Government wishes to secure an equal range of high-quality
public services for all individuals, independent of their
residence, age, income and social background.

Social services
The overriding objective of the social services is to
promote financial and social security, improve living standards for
disadvantaged individuals, to help to create increased equal worth
and equality, and to prevent social problems. One objective is to
divert the present focus from the passive transfer of income to
active measures aimed at providing help for self-help.

In order to improve the quality of the social
services, the Government will, among other things:

• Increase the competence and quality of the social
services In following the plan of action «Knowledge and
Bridge-building» (1998-2001), the Government wishes to implement
measures intended to strengthen skills in the social services, to
reduce random discrimination, to make the social services more
user-friendly and accessible and to strengthen its work with people
with complex problems.

• Improve the quality of measures for substance abusers The Government wishes to try out new, more caring measures
for substance abusers who are unable to avail themselves of other
options, and to encourage trials involving new aftercare
initiatives. In addition, it is important to assess measures that
may help to reduce injuries and deaths among the most serious cases
of substance abuse. The Government will also strengthen general
preventive measures against substance abuse, among other things in
connection with the Plan of Action for Reduced Substance Use
(1998-2000).

Health services
A well-developed health service with a particular focus on
preventive measures and initiatives aimed at promoting health is
necessary in order to achieve a good general state of health among
the population and is important in relation to the goal of equal
distribution of living standards. The Government wishes to secure
an equal range of high-quality health services for all.

• Improved financial situation for patients in psychiatric
hospitals The Government wishes to relax the condition that stays in
psychiatric hospitals of more than five months lead to a reduction
in disability pension from the second calendar month. The
Government proposes that this benefit should only be reduced if the
stay lasts for more than one year. The Government also wishes to
increase the maximum income allowance, to bring this in line with
the amount that pensioners in municipal institutions are allowed to
retain.

• Better health services for handicapped people The Government is aiming to raise the living standards of
those handicapped people who currently have the lowest living
standards. This will be done by, among other things, testing
measures designed to improve the monitoring of handicapped people
who themselves do not wish to visit the health service, and through
development work intended to improve accessibility to health
services.

The Government wishes to establish a scheme whereby patients
will be assigned a regular primary doctor from the year 2001. This
scheme is designed to help provide better access to and
distribution of high-quality medical services. The scheme will
improve health services, particularly for people with long-term and
chronic illnesses. A regular primary doctor will also provide
better options for people with complex needs. The Escalation Plan
for Mental Health 1999-2006, which the Government presented in the
spring of 1998, will in coming years lead to a considerable
escalation of services available to people suffering from
psychiatric illnesses.

In late1999/early 2000, the Government will submit a White
paper concerning the basic values governing the health
service. The primary focus of this report will be how the
health service can assist in securing an equal range of
high-quality services for everyone in Norway in the future.

Nursing and care services
The Government’s overriding objective for the nursing and
care services is to secure essential services for each individual
in accordance with his/her needs, to improve the range and quality
of the services, provide more flexible and equal services for all
people and to allow greater room for user-participation and
personal freedom of choice.

The municipal nursing and care services shall
secure the needs for nursing and care services for elderly and
handicapped people, including mentally handicapped people and
people with psychiatric problems. Recruiting staff with the correct
type of skills, improving the efficiency of resource utilisation
and the quality of the services offered are key areas of focus in
this respect. This shall be followed up in the Action Plan for
Health and Social Service Personnel (1998-2001).

In connection with the follow-up of White paper
no. 50 (1996-1997): Action Plan for Caring for the Elderly, the
comprehensive expansion of nursing home places and strengthening of
the home-help services for elderly and handicapped people in the
municipalities has been planned.

The Government has submitted a Plan of Action
for Handicapped People 1998-2000 (White paper no. 8 (1998-99))
which deals with objectives, strategies and measures designed to
improve conditions for people with handicaps. Among other things,
the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs will present a bill
concerning user-controlled personal assistance. The intention is
that this service will be offered by municipalities in the same way
as other forms of practical help and support.

User charges have to some extent been introduced
for a variety of public services, within such areas as the health
service, and nursing and care sectors. The Government has begun the
process of reviewing the use of user charges in order to find
schemes that may shield chronic patients in a better manner.

The Government will present a White paper «Care
2000» in late 1999/early 2000 which will discuss important choices
regarding both the underlying values of care work and its
direction, in respect of services, skills, recruitment and user
participation.

4.4 A more socially-oriented housing policy

The overriding objective of this Government’s housing
policy is to create sound and inexpensive housing in a good living
environment. In addition, the Government also aims to support the
notion that individuals may own their own dwellings, alone or
together with others, and to assist in creating a differentiated
rental market in accordance with the needs of the population. It is
the Government’s objective that the distribution of housing shall
be better than that provided by the distribution of assets and
income alone. It is an important objective for the Government that
everyone shall have the opportunity to obtain for himself or
herself a dwelling that is large enough and is functional and
healthy.

• Better housing support for disadvantaged families with
children The Government is committed to making further improvements
to the housing support scheme for families with children.
Initially, the Government will adapt the housing support scheme to
better suit the challenges in urban areas by, among other things,
raising the upper limit for housing expenses in Norway’s four
largest cities.

• Better housing support for single individuals receiving
social welfare benefits The Government will also consider giving more single people
the right to housing support. In particular, this will help single
recipients of social welfare benefits. The Government will
investigate more closely the connection between housing support and
social welfare, and the consequences an extension of the central
government housing support schemes may have for social welfare
payments.

• Better housing support for young disabled people The Government aims to improve the housing support scheme
for young disabled people, by raising the upper limit for housing
expenses in Norway’s four largest cities.

• Special measures for the homeless The Government wishes to assign priority to measures
designed to prevent homelessness and measures aimed at helping the
homeless. As part of this process, the largest cities in Norway
will be invited to take part in the development work with a view to
offering the homeless a more coordinated service. In order to
strengthen initiatives directed at the homeless, the Government
will:
- Increase the amount of subsidies available from the State
Housing Bank for use by municipalities in their work with people
with special disadvantages in the housing market.
- Attach increased importance to the development of
alternatives to the use of hostels.
- Implement trials involving multi-occupied houses for the
homeless, and to view this in connection with the escalation plan
for mental health.
- Develop good models for professional monitoring of the
individual user and systems for ensuring the quality of operations
at the hostels.
- Strengthen the focus on tailored daytime activity measures
for people with limited opportunities to obtain their own
dwellings, and to strengthen cooperation between various parts of
the social care service in this area.

The Government wishes to provide a more
comprehensive and better-organised sheltered housing service for
disadvantaged people. To this end, the Government will follow up
White paper no. 49 (1997-98) «Concerning the Establishment of
Dwellings for Young People and Disadvantaged Individuals». The
Government will also implement a broad-based public investigation
on housing policy and follow this up with a White paper.

4.5 A more finely-meshed safety net

Transfers in the welfare system primarily have a
good equalizing effect, and constitute a large part of the income
of groups with low incomes.

Social security
Social security provides financial security by securing
income and compensating for special expenses in the event of
unemployment, pregnancy and birth, for single parents, and in case
of illness and injury, old age and death. Social security also
contributes to the redistribution of income and help for
self-help.

The increase in the basic amount will raise the
income of pensioners who receive only the basic pension from the
National Insurance by a percentage similar to that of the projected
wage increase for the working population. This is in keeping with
those principles and objectives that otherwise form the basis of
the income policy programme.

The Government assumes that social security shall continue to
be the key element in the total system of pensions and benefits,
because it provides security for the individual and helps to
equalize incomes in society. The Government wishes to retain the
main features of the public pensions system.

Increased minimum pension 1998 At the Government’s suggestion, the minimum national
insurance pension was increased by NOK 12,000 per year from 1 May
1998. This increase has raised the basic security of the national
insurance considerably, and has improved the incomes of a large
group of pensioners with relatively low incomes. A total of 330,000
people who receive only the basic pension have boosted their
incomes to varying degrees as a result of this measure. The
increase in income has been greatest for those pensioners with the
lowest incomes. For the 20 per cent of pensioners with the lowest
incomes and for single pensioners in particular, this has meant a
great increase in income. This is particularly true of women. The
increase in the minimum pension is thus a goal-oriented and good
measure.

Even though the main features of the social
security and benefits schemes are firmly in place, there is a need
for improved security for the incomes of some groups.

• Increase the means-tested child allowance in the national
insurance pension A number of disabled individuals, particularly younger
people receiving disability pensions with responsibility for
children, have financial problems and receive social welfare
benefits over long periods of time in addition to their pension.
The Government therefore wishes to increase the means-tested child
allowance paid to old-age pensioners and people receiving
disability benefits with low incomes and responsibility for raising
children.

• Improved payments for women in part-time employment in the
event of an application for disability pension Married and cohabiting people who work part time today
receive very little in relation to their previous income when they
apply for a disability pension, This is because they are assessed
both in relation to their occupational life and against the work
they perform in the home. The Government wishes to change this
scheme, and would like to disregard the assessment of work in the
home when granting disability pensions to women in part-time
employment.

• Benefits of limited duration for married women who have cared
for family members Married women who have for many years performed the heavy
duty of caring for sick members of their family may encounter
difficulties when the recipient of the care dies or moves, since
they have few ties with the labour force. Today these women fall
outside the scope of those benefit schemes that allow the recipient
a period of adjustment after the period of care has ended. The
Government therefore wishes to introduce a benefit scheme of
limited duration for this group, similar to the scheme in place for
single parents.

• Better National Insurance survivor benefits for divorced
survivors The Government wishes to improve the financial situation of
elderly divorced women whose divorced spouse dies more than five
years after the divorce. If the spouse dies before five years have
passed, the survivor is entitled to transitional benefits. This
should also apply after long marriages, where the survivor has been
financially dependent on contributions from the deceased.

• Improved assistance benefits for single parents with sick or
handicapped children Single parents with children who suffer from a protracted
illness or who are handicapped today have their assistance benefits
reduced if they also receive supplementary child benefit from the
National Insurance. The Government wishes to amend this, so that
single parents receiving supplementary child benefit can also
receive assistance benefits.

The benefit schemes for single parents were
changed significantly in 1998, among other things in the form of
shorter benefit periods, higher benefits and a greater requirement
regarding occupational activity. The Government will evaluate
possible changes in the duration of transitional benefits in
connection with re-evaluation of the reform in the year 2001.

• Improved basic benefit when using a vehicle financed by the
National Insurance It often emerges that the basic benefit that handicapped
people are entitled to receive when they have a vehicle financed by
the National Insurance is not sufficient to cover the vehicle’s
actual running expenses. The Government wishes to provide better
coverage of motor vehicle expenses through a more goal-oriented
system of basic benefits.

Social welfare benefits etc.

The Government is committed to the fact that social welfare
benefits shall continue to be a subsidiary scheme under the aegis
of the manipulates, and that this system is based on assessments of
the individual.

The Government nevertheless wishes to make
certain changes to the social welfare benefits scheme, in order to
create greater equality and a fairer scheme:

• A stronger normalization of social welfare benefits The Government wishes to introduce recommended central
government norms for the granting of social welfare. Taking the
municipal right of self-determination into consideration, and
because local adjustments often represent good solutions, this
means that the central government norms should be recommended, and
not binding.

When granting benefits, the Government will
encourage greater use of conditions, in order to encourage the
recipient of social welfare benefits to seek employment.

• Social welfare and family allowance According to the principles that form the basis of social
welfare payments, family allowance counts as income when assessing
the need for assistance among families with children. Practices
differ, however, from municipality to municipality. The Government
recommends that municipalities treat family allowance payments as
part of the income basis when providing social welfare. The
Government recommends that expenses towards subsistence for
children and expenses that follow from the duty to care for
children be taken into account when designing the recommended
norms.

• Social welfare and cash payments to families with
children The objective of providing cash payments for families with
small children is to give the parents of small children an improved
financial position so that they have more time to care for their
own children and to provide greater choice when it comes to care
solutions. In order to make this freedom of choice genuine, the
Government recommends to the municipalities that cash payments for
families with small children shall be deducted from the income base
when assessing social welfare benefits. The scheme for payment of
cash payments to families with small children will be reviewed.

The Government wishes to see the improved
safeguarding of income for people who are permanent recipients of
social welfare benefits.

• Improved support for people who have spent only a short
period of time in Norway The Government wishes to introduce a new, supplementary
support scheme for people who have not lived in Norway for the
required period or have not earned the right to a pension in
Norway. This scheme shall apply to people who live in Norway and
who meet the conditions for receiving long-term benefits under the
National Insurance scheme (with the exception of the residency
requirement). The scheme would provide means-tested benefits with a
view to securing a total income equivalent to the minimum pension
from the National Insurance scheme, and would be administered by
the social security offices.

• Guaranteed minimum income The Government will appoint a committee to investigate the
issue of a guaranteed minimum income. The committee’s report shall
be linked to the social schemes that are currently in place and to
the proposal in the Equalization Report concerning the
normalisation of social welfare, and, on this basis, give
consideration to improved coordination and simplification of the
benefits scheme.

4.6 A simpler, more user-oriented and better coordinated social
care scheme

The public assistance scheme is chiefly
organised in accordance with the sector principle. Many public
agencies are responsible for various aspects of people’s living
standards, e.g. the social security agency, the labour market
agency, the health service, social services and the follow-up
service for upper secondary schools. Complex problems require
coordination and collaboration. An administration that is
inaccessible and lacks coordination will particularly affect the
weakest members of society, i.e. users with complex problems and
needs.

The Government has implemented a number of
measures to make the public assistance scheme simpler and more
user-oriented in order to help groups that have problems in
relation to the benefits schemes. Important initiatives include
improved coordination between public services and a better user
service. User-participation involves both a right and a duty for
the user. To a greater degree than is the case today, the
Government wishes to focus on the user of public services.
Information and service are two key concepts in this context. It
shall be easier for users to know where to go to get help.

Among other things, the Government wishes to:
- Implement initiatives with user offices
- Improve the level of service available to users by means
of public service offices
- Introduce service guarantees in all public agencies
- Continue to focus on the development and strengthening of
voluntary agencies